Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom said he gave priority to basic education because it is the foundation of general education.
Ortom stated this while addressing education stakeholders comprising teachers, parents and school proprietors at Government House Makurdi.
He stated that once pupils got it right at the foundation level, learning at secondary and higher level becomes easier.
He said his administration has constructed and upgraded 1,500 primary schools across the 23 local government areas in Benue State.
He said this was apart from providing learning materials like chairs, table and magic board.
According to the Governor, on assumption of duty he implemented N18,000 minimum wage for Benue teachers, a development he stressed served as a major motivation for the teachers.
He challenged school managers to monitor public school performance to enhance quality of education, stating that education is the only industry in Benue state.
”I gave priority to education because when people are properly educated, they can be more useful to the society and Benue cannot lack behind,” he stressed.
Ortom stated that Benue ranks among the best in standard of education across Nigeria as a result of unprecedented investment, which accounts for the brilliant performances of it’s students at national academic competitions.
He also noted that the overall second best student in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) came from Benue State, stressing that the State ranks third in the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted yearly by West African Examinations Council, WAEC.
“Benue is one of the best in Nigeria in terms of education. It is common knowledge that whenever students from Benue go on any competition, they are either first, second or third and have never gone beyond that.
“Last year, the overall second best student in Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB examination came from Benue. In the nation we are number three in terms of performances in the West African Examinations Council, WAEC. That is Benue is the third best in the country,” Ortom said .
” We have place Benue State University Makurdi on first line and we paid them and they are on strike because of directives from ASUU”
”We have also placed emphasis on technical education as a deliberate policy to address the problem of unemployment because with technical education, graduates would become self employed and as well become employers.
“As a way of encouraging technical education we have approved the upgrade of two institutions to Polytechnics in the state, a development aimed at providing quality vocational education to people of the State,” he added.
He stated that construction, reconstruction of primary and secondary schools across the state has been ongoing since 2015, stressing that customised furniture was also being provided saying” our administration giant strides in education will benefit generations yet to come.
”I have also continued to match UBEC grant for massive improvement of primary school classrooms for enhance learning condition”.
Responding on behalf of Head of School Agencies , Dr.Frank Ikyugun who is the Executive Secretary Benue State Teaching Service Board, commended the Governor for the attention giving to education.
Ikyugun assured him of strict supervision of schools and teachers for quality performance .
Discover more from LN247
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
